GOG's New Game Client&comma; GOG Galaxy&comma; is Now in Beta

It looks like you'll soon have another icon stuck to your taskbar, as GOG, the popular marketplace for games, will be creating a new client of its own. GOG Galaxy is live for beta now, and soon will be joining Steam, uPlay, and Origins, as some of the daily drivers used for your games. The difference is GOG Galaxy will remain completely optional, while delivering some unique features that you'll only see on GOG.

Library Features

One particular components of GOG Galaxy is the ability to rollback updates.

"Sometimes game updates break things. Thanks to the built-in Rollback feature, you can restore your game to prior states with just a single click."

Along with that, GOG bring the ability of having the option to not update a game if you choose not to. GOG brings the user optional auto-updates which allows the gamer to still play the game if they so choose to without new updates. With that said, how it would effect the live multiplayer aspect of a game is still in question.

GOG Galaxy also gives you a second copy as a backup if anything happens to the first one. For every game you buy you can download a backup installer that will let you store it on the cloud, or any external disk.

Continuing with its own features, GOG bring you the ability to play offline, as well as simplicity when installing new games. Its one-click install allows for your video games to stay updated without the user having to fuss over any technical issues.

In-Game Functionality

GOG offers its players many of the in-game features that make the other game clients so successful. GOG Galaxy brings with it achievements for the players to earn, and online multiplayer matchmaking. The client will also be able to track your game time, and soon an overlay will be added to make everything accessible in-game.

A new feature that GOG is adding to their client is Crossplay. This aspect will allow you to play your games online with anyone that is on Steam. GOG states that they do not want to limit you just because you bought your game from somewhere else and that friends should be able to still play with each other no matter the client. Any Support with Origins or uPlay has not been mentioned.

What GOG Brings to the Table

GOG Galaxy is still in beta but it does offer a lot of different components to it when compared to other clients. The first major game release for the new piece of software will be The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt.

How do you guys think this new client will turn out? If you have any opinions, leave it in the comments.

I've been in the alpha, and I like what they are doing.
They are making the client optional. You can just download and play your games without having to mess with the client. DRM free FTW!
Also, it's GOG who has been pretty forthright with customer sand always treated us right.

This actually makes me happy... finally a true competitor to Steam. Not some publisher owned controlled store front, so they can charge what they want for their poorly ported and generic trash, and rake it 95% of the profit (or some stupidly high numbers).
GOG has integrity, so I am pleased about this! It will make me use GOG more. I much prefer having a client with my games, then downloading installers from a site.

I don't know about 'true competitor' - GOG still mostly hits a niche of older games. This will 100% be a great alternative if you just want older titles, but I'm going to guess that alluring new releases like Witcher 3 aren't actually going to convert many users.

Yer, could be baby steps! What I'm more excited about is a distribution platform that makes the other platforms look bad - I DO trust GOG to make a killer platform and never try anything shady. GOG is going to knock it out of the park, and that's what will help drive competition among distribution platforms even if they aren't a 100% competitor! Hopefully, anyways..